Am I one of few who have never tried.......

nix84

cocaine or ecstasy?! I'm in my mid twenties, had a pretty decent childhood, I left school at 16 and moved out (nothing to do with family) and even though I didn't finish school I consider myself well educated as I do like to educate myself. I smoked alot of weed when I was younger and I tried speed once but that's it. I had access at any time to any drug but never felt the need to get off my face. I feel like everyone around me has at some stage tried "hard" drugs at least once, some either still do or had continued for a long time in younger days to indulge. Some I was very surprised at when I heard. I don't have any particular feeling either way about it as long as it's not harming anyone else in anyway (which is kind of never the case if you think of where they originate) but I just feel like I'm in a minority. I have a few friends who think taking drugs in just wrong, end of, but what about everyone else?

rebel10

No you aren't the only one. I am just glad that i mixed with a group that never really were interested in it. I can imagine, if everyone else was doing it at the time, I probably would have too, but i'm easily led.:o

The most illegal thing I have done is smoked a few joints.

PandyAndy

I'm the same as yourself. I just never felt the need/desire to take them.

Do regularly smoke joints, and would like to try acid. But that's it.

Ickle Magoo

You smoked a lot of weed but never felt the need to get off your face? That sounds like a bit of an oxymoron to me.

Drug taking and attitudes to drugs depend entirely on what drugs that person has indulged in, ime. A tee-totaller may claim not to understand the lure of alcohol, someone who doesn't take and is anti-drugs would consider someone who smoked a lot of weed outrageous, and those who smoke dope and nothing else consider every other drug the big, bad ones.

I think it's all relative and I know people from all along the "drug-taking" spectrum, I'm not sure there is "only a few" in any one camp, I think it's pretty evenly spread.

Novella

I'm actually not sure. I know that taking drugs is wrong for me. I've never tried ecstasy or cocaine but I've smoked weed and dabbled a lot in head-shop 'drugs' and I can honestly say that that was the biggest mistake of my life. I suffered with panic attacks and really bad social anxiety. Even after I'd stopped taking drugs, and now, a year later, it's something I'm still trying to get over.

Some of my friends are quite experimental with drugs, but I do distance myself from it these days. I just can't handle it. They say they have some great experiences, but it's not for me.

nix84

I'm not asking people their views on drug taking, I'm asking if many people have taken said drugs as I seem to be in a minority!

nix84

Novella wrote: »

I'm actually not sure. I know that taking drugs is wrong for me. I've never tried ecstasy or cocaine but I've smoked weed and dabbled a lot in head-shop 'drugs' and I can honestly say that that was the biggest mistake of my life. I suffered with panic attacks and really bad social anxiety. Even after I'd stopped taking drugs, and now, a year later, it's something I'm still trying to get over.

Some of my friends are quite experimental with drugs, but I do distance myself from it these days. I just can't handle it. They say they have some great experiences, but it's not for me.

That's the kinda answers I'm looking for!

I'm 30 and have never tried any drug, not my thing, life can be bad enough as it is, maybe I should actually :pac:

I wouldn't be of the opinion that it's wrong but I shared a house with a guy who was way too fond of smoking joints, he went from a few a week to smoking a few hours a day, stopped going to work etc. Also I saw what cocaine and alcohol did to a lad I know and his family. Not good. I also know a few other lads who have been in and out of trouble primarily due to soft drug use, they got into selling a bit etc etc. In their 30s now they are longterm unemployed and they seem happy enough. One or two of them would have had quite decent paying jobs when they were in their mid 20s.

Ickle Magoo

nix84 wrote: »

I'm not asking people their views on drug taking, I'm asking if many people have taken said drugs as I seem to be in a minority!

And I'm pointing out that regardless of the show of hands in a quick LL poll, you aren't one of the few...in fact in my friends, I'd be one of the few that has tried them.

Lia_lia

I have tried (too much) ecstasy. And cocaine. Between the ages of 17 and 21ish...But so over that! Wouldn't do any of it again I'd say. My head can't take it. But don't really regret it either. Live and learn blah blah blah...

I do think some drugs (ecstasy for example) can really help people get over social anxiety issues. And just make them better with people in general. I found that with myself. Works the other way too though...when something bad happens the panic attacks are not so lovely!

sam34

i've never taken any illegal drugs or any of the head shop stuff.

never felt the need/desire to.

Acoshla

I've never so much as smoked a cigarette, never mind taken ecstasy! I hate feeling a loss of control, I don't even liking getting too drunk because I hate when my words slur etc, and having seen friends totally out of it on drugs (and accompanying one of them to A&E as she ground one of her teeth apart and writhed around like a girl possessed) I decided I was definitely better off without trying it.

My mother actually fell out with a friend over this subject. The friend said that if my mother believed me when I said I wasn't taking drugs in college then she was a delusional idiot, said friend's daughter now has permanent brain damage from a bad reaction to some of the copious amounts of drugs she took in college, although she is fine to talk to for the most part she can't work and can't cope too well with regular everyday life, a nice legacy to have for a few years of partying.

Alcohol is as strong as I've got, and its been a very long time since I've been drunk
I tried a cig once but the smoke clogging up my lungs felt disgusting so that was that
Havent tried anything else, don't want to

daenerysstormborn3

The thing is the quality of drugs these days is very poor compared to 10 years ago. It's not even worth your while paying the extortionate price for whatever you fancy because you end up with a horrible high, a horrible comedown and quite sick and that's for experienced people, nevermind if you've no experience, then you're pretty much a story in a newspaper.

Faith

I've never tried anything harder than weed. I was briefly very interested in trying cocaine, but then Katy French and those boys in Waterford died and I immediately went off the idea. I would say 95% of my friends haven't tried them either.

pragmatic1

Dont be fooled by its legality, alcohol is more dangerous that most illegal drugs.

Sibylla

I'm almost twenty and have never tried anything, Most people in my social group haven't either, I think that's where the problem lies, peer pressure and being exposed to illegal substances at a young age.

starbelgrade

I've had just about every type of street drug there is... weed, speed, coke, yokes, acid, amphetamines, magic mushrooms, GHB, ketamine, PCP. Even tried heroin once. And due to the nature of most street drugs, I was probably necking a few more chemicals that I didn't know about.

I had one or two bad experiences from taking way too much, but besides that, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I don't really do drugs these days - I don't have the time! But if I'm going to a festival or something like that, I normally bring something & there's always the odd party where something's available.

Some people stick to drink their whole lives, but for me, variety is the spice of life.

pow wow

Never tried cocaine or ecstasy and no plans to either. I'm in my late 20s.

Red Hand

Took two skeins of clarky cat once. Never again.

Seriously, no I haven't taken illegal drugs for the simple reason that you don't know who has been handling it. At least with alcohol, if there is something wrong with it, there is traceability. Whereas ingesting something that doesn't have any traceability or any means of knowing for sure what is/should be in it.

Would you buy a loaf of bread off of your local dealer?:pac:

lil'bug

Spadina wrote: »

never mind taken ecstasy! I hate feeling a loss of control, I don't even liking getting too drunk because I hate when my words slur etc, and having seen friends totally out of it on drugs (and accompanying one of them to A&E as she ground one of her teeth apart and writhed around like a girl possessed) I decided I was definitely better off without trying it.
.

This is the reason I don't drink (to excess) or do drugs, I have epilepsy so I know what it feels like to loose control of your body and its not something I'd enjoy.

daenerysstormborn3

starbelgrade wrote: »

I've had just about every type of street drug there is... weed, speed, coke, yokes, acid, amphetamines, magic mushrooms, GHB, ketamine, PCP. Even tried heroin once. And due to the nature of most street drugs, I was probably necking a few more chemicals that I didn't know about.

I had one or two bad experiences from taking way too much, but besides that, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I don't really do drugs these days - I don't have the time! But if I'm going to a festival or something like that, I normally bring something & there's always the odd party where something's available.

Some people stick to drink their whole lives, but for me, variety is the spice of life.

Agus mise

I think as well that the quality of drugs these days also plays a part in there being fewer people willing to experiment these days.

nix84

pragmatic1 wrote: »

Dont be fooled by its legality, alcohol is more dangerous that most illegal drugs.

I know this only too well, believe me. I'm not the world's best drinker. I've had the few nights where ya learn when to stop and I do. I know my limit and I know that it also does just as much damage, if not more in some cases, as drugs

starling.

I'm twenty and in college, and I've never even been offered drugs before. Maybe that's weird, but whatever. I haven't felt the need to anyway, I do drink and sometimes smoke when I'm out and that's enough for me.

CaliforniaDream

I've tried:
smoking - didn't see the attraction,
drinking - I love my shots,
weed/hash in brownies - one or two days in Amsterdam, had no effect on me,
mushrooms - about 5 times. Physically couldn't stomach the chocolate bar they came in so never had them again. Had fun a few times and a little bit scary once or twice.
Ecstasy - snorted half a pill once. No idea why, I was drunk but I've been drunk and refused every other time. Don't remember anything. I think I fell asleep in the cab when we were going home.

Never tried anything else and will probably never do anything outside of drinking and maybe an odd cigarette again.
I had loads of fights with my boyfriend over drugs. Mostly because I didn't understand them and didn't like his personality on them. My friends from growing up are the same as me. We were never really exposed to drugs and as a result don't feel a need to take them.
We're mid-20's.

Eve_Dublin

I've tried cocaine, E, mushrooms, MDMA, speed, weed and I smoked opium once but I've still had my worst experiences with alcohol. I wouldn't touch Cocaine again though now that I'm wise to where it comes from...and it turned me into a bit of a twit anyway. MDMA I would definitely do again and there's been recent research to say they haven't found any evidence to prove it damages you longterm http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/feb/19/ecstasy-harm-brain-new-study. Speed was just silly and weed I generally don't like because I prefer to be alert than relaxed to the extreme. Mushrooms I loved and would do again.

If I could, I'd opt for MDMA over drink at weekends. I've better fun and I'm more sociable and "loved up" and don't turn into a slurring idiot at the end of the night (this is what 3 glasses of wine does to me since I hit 30). I've no regrets and am glad I tried everything I did because I'd so much fun.

The one thing I will say though if I'm honest, for a few years after I stopped doing drugs regularly (I wasn't doing them that regularly....maybe once a month), I would compare nights out without drugs to nights out with drugs and I always felt I wasn't having as much fun without them. Every night just seemed like a watered down version of the fun I had before. I still get that feeling sometimes...

OP I know plenty of people who haven't touched anything, so no, you're not the exception. I just met up with a group who was into them...and I lived in England's most boring city for one year where drugs were rife. Not everyone is doing them contrary to what were told by the media.

squeakyduck

I haven't tried coke or E. Wouldn't want to either, look at all the sad stories of it all going wrong.

Rabble Rabble

Eve_Dublin wrote: »

If I could, I'd opt for MDMA over drink at weekends. I've better fun and I'm more sociable and "loved up" and don't turn into a slurring idiot at the end of the night (this is what 3 glasses of wine does to me since I hit 30). I've no regrets and am glad I tried everything I did because I'd so much fun.

As somebody who never touched the stuff, from what I hear and read I wish MDMA was legal, and sold in pubs. I once went to a very chavy night club - a urban barn basically - with a friend. Neither of us did MDMA and we had no supply. Everybody else was on Ecstasy - it was a dance place. That barn was full of the chaviest of tatooed chavs, and me and my friend are metrosexual, so not our scene. Looked dangerous but it was the most relaxed place ever. On alcohol, there would have been a fight before midnight.

Im timid and I dont want to do illegal stuff for fear of what I might get but I would were were it sold openly.

omb0wyn5ehpij9

Spadina wrote: »

I've never so much as smoked a cigarette, never mind taken ecstasy!

I'm the same. I have never had any interest in drugs at all so I have never tried them. I'm a fairly head strong and stubborn person at times, so being pressured into trying these things when I was younger and a bit more naive was never going to happen!

Chuchoter

Never and don't intend to either, I like my brain in reasonably functioning order. I've no problem with trying weed at some stage, but my friends got in such massive trouble for it a few years back (I don't know what happened in second year but everyone I knew was really into weed and in the end the gardai got involved and school suspensions and general drama) I don't know if its really worth it.

beks101

Never tried, never really had an interest. I've done your token joint or two but never ventured beyond.

I've always been fairly sheltered when it comes to them and never moved in circles where it was standard, but now I'm finding some friends are getting experimental and I have no desire whatsoever to join them. I'm not even sure it's the horror stories though maybe they have an impact...I think it's more the idea of losing my mind, however temporarily.

My older sister suffers from a mental illness and it's been the scariest and saddest thing to witness...I guess I have this idea that I'd be the one to take the bad pill, have a ridiculous reaction or get addicted or something and put my own mental health at stake. I sort of feel a responsibility to myself to not take the risk.

Morag

I have never tried cocaine or ecstasy and I never will.
I grew up with my Dad on a lot of meds and always knew that everything has some side effects so I read up on them and looking at what they do to the body, I'd never take them.

Manic Moran

Dont be fooled by its legality, alcohol is more dangerous that most illegal drugs.

Perhaps, but why add to the danger even more than alcohol does?

Besides, there are a number of jobs which are prohibited to drug-takers. Why voluntarily close that door to yourself?


To answer the OP. I'm 35, never done anything stronger than alcohol, and two cigars.

NTM (Interloper)

skywards

I've never done drugs, legal or otherwise. Don't drink either, for that matter.

Poor Craythur

beks101 wrote: »

Never tried, never really had an interest. I've done your token joint or two but never ventured beyond.

I've always been fairly sheltered when it comes to them and never moved in circles where it was standard, but now I'm finding some friends are getting experimental and I have no desire whatsoever to join them. I'm not even sure it's the horror stories though maybe they have an impact...I think it's more the idea of losing my mind, however temporarily.

My older sister suffers from a mental illness and it's been the scariest and saddest thing to witness...I guess I have this idea that I'd be the one to take the bad pill, have a ridiculous reaction or get addicted or something and put my own mental health at stake. I sort of feel a responsibility to myself to not take the risk.

This is pretty much how I feel about it all too.

And the mental illness thing - hell yes. I suffer intermittently from depression, and drugs would definitely DEFINITELY make it worse. I've cut my alcohol intake right down because alcohol doesn't help either.

Chucky the tree

Manic Moran wrote: »

Perhaps, but why add to the danger even more than alcohol does?

Because it's fun.

LegacyUser

Manic Moran wrote: »

Perhaps, but why add to the danger even more than alcohol does?

Errr... how is taking something less or as dangerous than alcohol adding to the danger?

petebricquette

I'm 22, I smoke a bit of weed (bi-weeklyish sessions with mates) and I've done ecstacy twice. Both times I was in excellent form, in the mood for dancing and just loving being out with my mates. I've been off my tits on drink too many times to really enjoy drinking heavily on nights out anymore so I'd definitely like to try MDMA next time I go out. I'm also pretty curious about trying cocaine.

baby and crumble

I have never tried anything stronger than weed, and even then it's home-grown (not in my home!!!) and so I have a decent enough knowledge of its trail to me... I don't do it terribly often- possibly half a joint a month, but that's all i need to chill out and relax a little. I don't like the feeling of being drunk, it's very different to being stoned, in my opinion anyway.

As for the stronger stuff, I've never really run in circles where they were rife at all, so I never got exposed to them. I'm one of the only one of my friends that smokes even remotely regularly. I did try some of the Spice mix when it was still legal, and although I was fine on it, my friend that I was smoking with didn't pace herself properly and got really scarily ill from it one night. It really freaked me out and I never smoked it again. I'd now be wary of stuff that i don't know exactly where it came from- you just never know what it's being sprayed or cut with or whatever. Whatever about natural stuff like mushrooms or peyote etc., anything that could conceivably be mixed with salt/rat poison/ washing powder and snorted into my lungs isn't what I'm after!

krudler

I've never done anything aside from drinking, but I dont have a problem with people taking something as long as they dont wind up putting themselves in danger. I've been at parties where people have been stoned and ones where people have been pissed, and the ones where people are pissed are always the ones with hassle. I've never had any of my friends fly into a jealous rage that someone was chatting up his missus while they were smoking weed.

But on the flip side one of my friends smoked a LOT of weed for the past 8 or so years, and now is one of the most paranoid, depressed people I've ever met, he cant function in social circles at all and doesnt know how to deal with people, and he wasnt like that a few years ago its just gotten gradually worse the more hes smoked.

The one drug I hope doesnt wind up being used more here is crystal meth, that has to be one of the most dangerous drugs in the world, I was in San Francisco for Halloween last year and at a costume party in the city I was offered it a half dozen or so times and asked for it a few as well, evil drug.

jimbob86

Ive taken alot of drugs in my earlier years and most my freinds and people i grew up with did to,it was good craic and we had nothin better to do at the weekends in a small town,me and my close'est mates just smoke joints now but a few of them still take pills,acid and coke alot and they'l end up fried..some are a bit already!

A few of my old mates got into herion and there all ****ed,one died of an overdose last year at 24,this absolutely sickened me and i really despise any harder drugs now.I think fairplay to people who never took drugs because at some stage in life everyones curious about them,and i often wonder how some people i now would have ended up if they never took them.

Manic Moran

usernaaaaaame wrote: »

Errr... how is taking something less or as dangerous than alcohol adding to the danger?

Think about it.

Activity A comes with a 50% chance of something bad happening.

Activity B comes with a 25% chance of something bad happening.

Conduct A on its own, you have 50%. Conduct B on its own, you have 25%. Conduct A and B together, and you have about a 66% chance of something bad happening.

NTM

Azureus

In answer to the OP, I have never tried cocaine or ecstasy and I never will.

I have smoked the odd bit of weed but only at sessions and fairly irregularly-would be the exception rather than the rule. I have taken unprescribed (well, unprescribed for me) valium and xanax and drank something which was spiked with party pills (my 'friend' got a bollicking over that even though I was fine, spiking=uncool!). Thats the extent of it and I'll keep it that way.

It's not something that really interests me, despite most of my friends getting off their heads on a regular basis. I dont mind them doing that around me , once I dont end up taking care of them after taking too much / bad trips etc. I'll be there for them, but they're very aware that Im not a babysitter just because I dont join in. That said, I've rarely seen them have a bad experience (apart from one chick who just cannot handle it). Still aint for me though.

Malari

I've only smoked joints while I lived in Holland, but I never really got anything out of it! All my friends seemed to enjoy it but I just never noticed anything, despite trying for several months I remember my dad asking me in jest if I did smoke while I was there and he was a bit surprised when I told him I did :pac:

I wasn't really in a circle of friends who tried different drugs. If I had been I might have taken pills of some sort but I could never inject anything or snort anything. Ick.

Nowadays I stick to alcohol as a "drug" of choice and in quite limited quantities.

liah

At 23 I've tried alcohol, weed, e, coke, mushrooms, acid and headshop stuff.

Alcohol I don't care for much and frankly is the most dangerous of the lot of them (well, except coke). Weed I'll do many, many times; for me it's effectively harmless and is basically just a great relaxant. Coke I won't do again. E I probably will at one stage or another if, and only if, I can find it pure, what a cool drug. Not sure about mushrooms, I don't trust them, but I definitely want to give acid a shot again.

Want to try an ibogaine session.

I don't do any of them except weed in excess (I smoke it daily), in total I've done e probably 10 times over the span of 2 years, coke twice in that span, headshop stuff (not smokeables) a handful of times at best, acid and shrooms once.

I do drugs because I like the experience. I like seeing where my mind can go with a bit of help, I love the creativity they can bring, or in the case of e, the pure empathy it brings. There's some drugs I'd never try, like PCP which scares the living hell out of me (seriously, read some PCP horror stories), but some I will definitely return to again or try at some stage or another in my life.

I also only do drugs in moderation and don't tend to mix them, and never take them if I'm not feeling right about it. It works for me.

Eve_Dublin

Manic Moran wrote: »

Think about it.

Activity A comes with a 50% chance of something bad happening.

Activity B comes with a 25% chance of something bad happening.

Conduct A on its own, you have 50%. Conduct B on its own, you have 25%. Conduct A and B together, and you have about a 66% chance of something bad happening.

NTM

What if you do one or the other and not both together? Perhaps that what the poster meant. I remember I spent about 5 hours drinking one can of beer after taking a pill. Not all drugs have a high risk of something bad happening though and research on E and MDMA has proven that to some extent (I included the link in my post above). You hear about very few deaths from these drugs considering how many people have taken them and most deaths are caused by overconsumption of water from paranoid users. You're supposed to keep yourself hydrated and they take it too far. They've even started using hallucinogenics to treat illnesses such as schizophrenia/

I'm not trying to convince anyone to try them but I think it's only fair that we dispell the proven myth that all illegal drugs are worse for you than something the Irish consume by the gallon load every weekend. I don't want to be viewed as some sort of rebel when I've been in a much better state on illegal drugs than alcohol in the past. People in Ireland guzzle back a bottle of wine watching telly on the couch after work but yet people who do drugs occasionally are stigmatised. Just because they've made it illegal, doesn't mean the powers-that-be were right and knew what was best for us. As I said, recent evidence has proven them wrong with regards to E and MDMA.The country would be a very different scene if people could choose MDMA over alcohol (not both) on a Friday night.

Earthhorse

What's the difference between E and MDMA?

Eve_Dublin

Earthhorse wrote: »

What's the difference between E and MDMA?

I'm not a chemist (believe it or not!) but I think MDMA is the drug that gets you high in E. E is in pill form, is less pure so is mixed with something else. MDMA is a powder and blows the head off you (in a good way) because of it's relative purity.

liah

Earthhorse wrote: »

What's the difference between E and MDMA?

MDMA is the legit name for the drug, E is just the street name afaik.

That said, liquid ecstasy is GHB, so the two aren't to be confused.

http://www.erowid.org/chemicals/mdma/mdma.shtml

Red Hand

Earthhorse wrote: »

What's the difference between E and MDMA?

MDMA is the active ingredient...the chemical that gives the required effect. Ecstacy is the pill that one takes and this contains a few different things so that it is all held together coherently as a tablet. This is the same for medicines in general where the active ingredient is only a small part of the pill with the remainder being gumming agents and polymers for holding the tablet together and a coating over the pill so that it doesn't get damaged in transit to the gut.

Thing is that with pills that aren't manufactured in a GMP environment, you don't know what's in them (unless it was a pill stolen from a legitimate pharma company). The people making them don't obviously want to poision their customers, but then again, are they qualified to be making something that's going to end up in the human body? Do they know what the effect of adding their fillers and gums are? They won't be sued, that's for sure.:pac:

Das Kitty

I tried a joint once or twice. Didn't do much for me.

Haven't tried anything else illegal in spite of a lot of opportunity. A lot of my family struggle with addiction so I suppose I always saw the negatives so I wasn't tempted to partake. I like a drink or two of alcohol but I don't like being drunk.

Out of my whole social circle, I can only think of one person who has tried cocaine or E, and I'm not sure about the cocaine. So in answer to the OP, no you are not one of the few, I'd imagine that there are far more people who haven't tried them than have. Maybe a poll?